Saturday, January 26, 2013

So This is Saturday

Damn, so it's been a week since I wrote. Actually, I haven't wrote really much of anything in the last week. I have had a cold since Christmas which I can't seem to get rid of so I like to spend a lot of my free time taking naps when ever I can squeeze one in. I have three writing projects right now. One is writing another murder mystery game, another short story that will turn into an ebook and I have to come up with some new jokes because they didn't like 7 of the 100 I wrote.

Okay, my husband helped with some of the jokes but I did come up with most of them myself. The other day I managed to write 500 words of the short story and I am slowly coming up with things for the murder mystery game.

Speaking of freelance writing... I started freelance writing in November. Remember I actually have a full time job as an electronic assembler so I don't spend a lot of time free lance writing. Anyway since I began freelancing I have made (this is is money, I already got paid)   $140 and once I finish the projects I am working on I will make another $80. Of course if I spent more time freelancing I would make more but I am happy with what I make. And this is all from the same three people (except for $40 because I sold some poems outside of oDesk). This is nice I have a few clients I work with and provide me with decent jobs with decent pay.

I am sure there are people who make more and I know I could but I am choosing to not be a  freelance writer full time because it will burn me out. I know it will because I went down that path before. I am trying quality over quantity. Plus I should spend more time working on publishing things on my own.

Honestly, going through the Writer's Market bores the shit out of me. I am going to buy a new one this year sometime. My editions are only two years old. See, I go through the book and mark up the ones I  think I would like to send stuff to. Then I hit the web to make sure the magazine still exists and check on current guidelines. At least I got one step done. My husband helped me select what he thought were my five best poems. This is good because many magazines want up to 5 poems per submission and I never know what to send in.

What I want to do next is prepare each poem for submission. You know putting the contact info on it and make sure they are formatted properly. And then I am going to print out some copies to mail and start combining them into file because some magazines only want one file for an electronic submission.  I also started a publishing journal on paper. This is my attempt at organization. I use this one for definite good magazines. These are the ones that are still in print. And in this journal I write all the info down if it is a mail only submission or electronic and if it is electronic how the submission fee if there is one. If I can find an editor's name I write that down as well. Each magazine gets their own page.

After the contact info I have a heading for what I sent and when and then there is a response section so I can keep track of my submissions. Yeah I should put it on the computer but I kind of like the old school kind of ways plus physically writing something down keeps it in my mind better than typing it on the computer.

With all of that being said I should go off and work on something and feel a bit productive.

Saturdays are best spent sledding down the hill with a trashcan lid.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

I've Got the Writing Blues

Yes, I know it has been one week since I posted. One very long week. And I am sorry. Really I am. It's just that I haven't felt like writing at all. Not one bit. I don't even know what happened.

Of course, there is one part of laziness,  I would rather watch Netflix then do anyting else. Okay a lot of it is laziness for some reason. Maybe it is the weather. All I know I have to get out of this self inflicted writing funk. Maybe it is January itself, winter can be such long day.

Anyway, I feel out of practise. I do have another 2 jobs lined up for me on oDesk. So I probably should work on those because I get paid for that. I think it was last week, I finished the one job I was working on in one night. I made myself sit down and write. The funny thing is when I get writing I actually get quite a bit done. So perhaps I should just chain myself to my desk and turn off my internet because for some reason, I always seem to find myself on facebook looking for new gossip and I should write. Write some and maybe write some more. Kind of hard to brag about being a writer when I have been slacking quite a bit since the New Year.

Okay, enough about my writing right now. We got more snow the other day but luckily it is already melting. I am a firm believer that we are due for a humdinger of a winter storm before this winter season is over. At least we have some nice days of reprieve before the shit flies. We haven't a had a hell of a winter storm in years. You know the kind where the wind howls, snow is bliding and the world is suddenly encased in so much snow that it takes most of the month of March to see the last of it go. Not that I want that big of a storm but I think we are about due for one.

This has been a pretty snowy winter here in Central PA, so much for global warming right? Well that is enough for one day.

May your bathtub overfill with gold water and rockets spell your name.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

What Sucks About January

Today, I took down my Christmas tree. I know it is January 12 but in my defense, I didn't even get the tree until 4 days before Christmas. I was supposed to get the night I got stuck on the mountain but obviously that didn't happen. It was a small tree but fat much  like a troll. I got it for ten bucks at the grocery store. And it had the soft needles. It was a really nice tree. Anyway...

As I am taking off the tinsel, it is falling to the floor but I am not fast enough to grab it. The cat who was sleeping quite peacefully decided now is the time to grab tinsel. He was so good all the time the tree was up. While the tinsel is falling, I am fighting with the cat because he is trying to eat it. I shoo him away. Within seconds he is on the other side of the tree snatching tinsel off the floor. Finally, I gather all the tinsel and shoo the cat away once again.

My poor little tree is pretty dry now and I am taking off the ornaments, needles fall to the floor. I can even here the piano sounds when they drop (you know from Charlie Brown Christmas when Charlie Brown places his tree on Shroder's piano and needles fall there is this soft twinkling noise). With the ornaments off, I start with the lights and more needles come off and of course I break a ball that I forgot. Again one of those things that has happened all Christmas season. Now my little tree is naked.

With tree stand and all I take it out side and of course there is a lovely trail of pine needles all the way out the door. It is sad to take down the Christmas tree because that means Christmas is over, really over. Even the neighbors already took down their outside lights and now the street is dark once again. It is now that the feeling that winter is here for another two months and it will be dark longer and of course cold (except not for today because it was unusually warm, I think it made all the way to 40 degrees heat wave).

I admit it, I still have garland all in the living room but I don't think I will take it down. I like it on the walls. I am one of those people who like to have stuff on the walls. You should have saw my bedroom when I was growing, Christmas lights all over and posters and other things I cut out just because I liked them.

Well with that may the moon see you pee and the deer steal your trashcan and start a band.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

More From Tuesday

Okay, the last post was just to try out my new tablet. Let me tell that onboard keyboard is a bitch. It is so sensitive and I mispell quite a bit which gets on my nerves. Here I am posting back on the laptop. The very reason I wanted a tablet was to write on the go and soon I will be able to. I am going to buy an app that lets me create documents in word format and I am also going to a buy a roll up keyboard that hooks into USB so I don't have to use the onboard keyboard. I wrote a haiku on it last night but they are pretty small poems so it only took a half hour (not really but it sure seemed like it).

I am really glad I have it though, I know I am going to use as much as possible.

So it's the new year and I am so slacking on writing. I miss my haikus in a way and so now I am struggling with finding a writing project. And I have a bunch of projects to do. I am working on a murder mystery game that I am ghostwriting plus I have some other ideas and I am thinking about writing another short story to be sold as an ebook and one of my clients wants me to write more stuff for them.

I have so many works that aren't even finished including my novel, several short stories and a bunch of kid stories. It's not like I don't have work to do. Just lacking the motivation but I go through these phases at times I just need a swift kick in the ass or maybe two or three.

Well this end of the this post tonight may your cookies be big and your milk cold and your blankets warm.

Another Tuesdays Gone

First things first this will be a short post because I am writing this on my new tablet that my husband just got me. He got it at Big Lots for a pretty good price. It is hard getting used to
the keyboard but its all good because I've always wanted something like this since the original iPhone  came out.


Okay I am tired of moving really slow. I will write more  soon...

Friday, January 4, 2013

The End of This Salacious Life

Well on December 31, 2012 I wrote my last three haikus for This Salacious Life. You may or may not remember I started last January 1 and I was to write 3 haiku everyday all year. Okay I tried my best if I missed a day then I would write 6 the next. I was dedicated to this project and I stuck with it. Well in December I slacked off a lot more than normal but the end was coming and I did make up all haiku I missed. However on the last day I made sure I wrote the last three. I did the math and I wrote at least 1100 haiku. Wow that is a hell of a lot.

I want to share with you the first three haiku I wrote and the last. Enjoy them and I will post some more here and there when the mood strikes me.

January 1, 2012

evergreen morning
woke up to a greatness
today begins all

I saw her blow smoke
ice laden fog surrenders
wanton hunger

malicious ocean
storm tossed memory disguised
as mountain fury


December 31, 2012

last day
the world changes
too fast in my universe

what is dedication
366 days
for what I love

this is the end
not goodbye
the world waits for me